The Programme for International Student Assessment, known as PISA, has released its 2025 results, and they paint a troubling picture for education systems across the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD). According to Mexican newspaper La Jornada, the latest round of testing recorded the lowest average scores the assessment has ever registered in three core subjects: reading comprehension, science, and mathematics.
PISA is administered every few years to 15-year-old students in dozens of countries worldwide, offering a snapshot of how education systems are preparing young people for real-world problem-solving. Because the test uses a consistent methodology over time, dips in performance are often read as warning signs about the health of schooling, and this year’s decline appears to be the steepest yet.
While the report does not point to a single cause, education researchers have previously linked pandemic-related school closures, uneven access to technology, and growing gaps in foundational literacy to sliding test scores worldwide. The fact that this downturn spans three distinct academic areas simultaneously suggests the problem may be broader than any one policy failure.
For a fuller breakdown of the findings and their implications for schools and policymakers, we encourage you to read the original report from La Jornada.
Source: PISA 2025 registra el rendimiento más bajo de la OCDE en lectura, ciencias y matemáticas (jornada.com.mx). English version produced with AI assistance.
Image: Levi Clancy, BY-SA 4.0 (via Openverse).